The day after he allegedly gave a statement to the police denying any knowledge of the kidnapping, subsequent death and dismemberment of businesswoman Vindra Naipaul-Coolman, one of the accused men swore to a Justice of the Peace (JP) he had never given any statement about it to police. The statement, allegedly made by Lyndon “Iron” James on May 14, 2007, to retired Supt Nadir Khan and acting Insp Michael Veronique, was read out yesterday as the trial continued before Justice Malcolm Holdip in the Port-of-Spain High Court.

However, on May 15, 2007, when he was interviewed by JP Marissa Singh, James reportedly told her: “I knows nothing of this statement nor did I give it to Khan and Veronique.” Before he allegedly gave the statement, Veronique had arrested James at Piarco Airport as he waited to board a flight to St Vincent. In the statement, James, a clothes vendor, reportedly told the two officers he had been going on vacation and intended to stay with a brother who lived in St Vincent, as he attended to “personal matters.” Asked when he was due to return from the vacation, James is reported to have told Khan he was unsure as the ticket was for seven or 14 days. He also said the ticket had been bought for him by a close female friend and he had collected it at the airport.

During the interview, James allegedly denied knowing or seeing Naipaul-Coolman before or having any knowledge she had been kidnapped. Also testifying yesterday was Dr Muhammad Yunis Ibrahim, the San Juan dentist who helped police identify and confirm Naipaul-Coolman’s dental records. Ibrahim said he first met her at a training seminar prior to 2006. He told the court on April 2, 2006, she came to him seeking professional help for a lower front incisor that was mobile, after which she agreed to remove the tooth and have a permanent replacement made and fitted. Ibrahim said during the treatment, he created a mould of Naipaul-Coolman’s mouth, using plaster of paris and made a temporary acrylic denture which was held in place by two metal clasps to her lower front jaw.

The mould was “stoned” and sent to the lab to fabricate the prosthesis. Ibrahim said he later placed the mould in storage for record-keeping purposes and after a visit from the police on June 28, 2007, he retrieved it and compared the contents of the package presented to him with the mould he had in storage. He concluded in a statement to the officers: “My findings were that the denture presented to me, it fit(ted) perfectly into the mould I had in my records.”

Ibrahim, who yesterday tendered the mould and duplicate denture into evidence, said: “To the best of my opinion, the denture provided by officers was a match for Vindra Naipaul-Coolman.” Under cross-examination by attorney Ulric Skerritt, Ibrahim admitted speaking with Naipaul-Coolman’s husband, Rennie Coolman, soon after her disappearance. However, while he had created a duplicate denture from the mould he had, “of my own volition,” Ibrahim denied it had anything to do with the discussion with Coolman. He explained he never doubted that Naipaul-Coolman would be found and, knowing her, he wanted to be prepared professionally for when she had to face the public.

On trial
Shervon “Buffy” Peters; Keida Garcia; Marlon “Mad Man Marlon” Trimmingham; Earl “Bobo” Trimmingham; Ronald “22” Armstrong; Antonio “Hedges” Charles; Joel “Ninja” Fraser; Lyndon “Iron” James; Allan “Scanny” Martins; Devon “Blackboy” Peters; Anthony Dwayne Gloster, also called Anthony Peters; and Jamile “WASA” Garcia. A 13th accused, Raphael Williams, died in prison in 2011. 

Scotiabank says employees will be treated fairly when the Canadian bank closes 35 of its Caribbean offices. Paula Cufré, Scotiabank’s senior manager, International Banking Communications, stated this on Friday to the T&T Guardian in an e-mail response to concerns raised over the looming closures. Last week, Scotiabank, ahead of announcing the bank’s fourth quarter performance, said it would close 35 of its more than 200 branches in the Caribbean and sever 1,500 full-time employees, including 500 in its international operations. 

Scotiabank, in a release, said it is expected to record certain charges in its fiscal 2014 fourth quarter earnings, aggregating to a total of approximately $451 million pre-tax. In the e-mail, Cufré explained, “Across our international business, we are reviewing our branch network to minimise overlap and provide customers with the right mix of options. For example, in the Caribbean, Scotiabank will be investing in ATMs and online banking to meet the demands and expectations of our customers.” She said the bank is at present reviewing its operations and these proposed changes “are being reviewed carefully and will take place over two years.” Scotiabank, she said, “is always looking at ways to improve the speed and quality of our customer service while reducing structural costs.”

Cufré, in response to concerns raised about job security and the impact of the regional closures, said, “Scotiabank has a long track record of treating our employees with fairness and respect in times of change. We expect that will be able to manage some of the reduction in positions through attrition and place some people in markets where we are expanding.” Diane Flanagan, Scotiabank’s vice president of corporate communications, when contacted by the T&T Guardian, said she would not be able to answer any questions on how many of the bank’s branches will be closed.

In a statement last week, Scotiabank T&T said it did not have any “detailed information” on if any of the bank’s 24 branches would be closed or any of the bank’s 1,377 local employees would be laid off. This latest development has drawn the ire of Banking, Insurance and General Workers Union (BIGWU) president Vincent Cabrera, who called on Finance and Economy Minister Larry Howai and Labour Minister Errol Mc Leod to intervene in the matter. He said Howai, a former banker, and Mc Leod must tell the nation what is happening at Scotiabank. 

Cabrera said the union is yet to receive any information about Scotiabank’s intention to close 35 of its Caribbean branches. He said the union represents one bargaining unit at Scotiabank. However, the T&T Guardian understands Scotiabank employees are not unionised. He lamented that the announcement by the Toronto-based bank and the downsizing of RBC operations in the Caribbean, saying, “To us it represents a strategic withdrawal of Canadian financing from what you call normal banking, normal commercial lending.”

He said it appears that the Canadian banks want to be involved in corporate banking and they have been coming under serious competition from other commercial entities in the region. Cabrera said Canadian banks in the Caribbean “already operate with very little regulations. They can do almost as they please, especially in the industrial relations area.” He said it is up to Howai to clear the air on this issue.  “I want to say that at this point in time, the Minister of Finance and the Economy in T&T ought to say something. He ought to be better placed than us to say something. We are certainly investigating the matter and it is a cause of concern in terms of job security for workers,” he said. Howai’s silence “is a matter of concern”, Cabrera said. Cabrera said the union is observing what is happening at the bank and “we are doing what we are supposed to do as a union. We did not want to telegraph any of our strategic actions.” 

RBC workers denied rights
Cabrera noted that more than 300 workers were retrenched/dismissed over the last four years at RBC and today the union has not received recognition to represent those workers. He said the union has completed all of the requirements to get recognition for that bank, but the “archaic legislation for granting recognition for trade unions in T&T” and the failure to reconstitute the Registration, Recognition and Certification Board (RRCB), which expired since January, has delayed that process. 

Cabrera said the board has not been functioning for more than 11 months and “while that is happening, the bank (RBC) is committing all kinds of industrial relations breaches which the union can only handle if, in fact, we have been granted recognition by the board.” This, he said, is a violation of the workers’ rights. The International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) the right to a collective bargaining, he explained, “is regarded as a human rights convention.”

Differences in language and culture can be assets to increasing tourist arrivals in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region, said Julio Orozco, director, sustainable tourism, Association of Caribbean States (ACS). He said the region has a “great” inter-regional cultural base. “We have three languages: French, English and Spanish. We have the Caribbean, then Latin America, also from Europe, because we work with the French territories,” Orozco said during the coffee break at the Meeting of Regional Tourism agencies, which was held yesterday at the ACS headquarters, Sweet Briar Road, St Clair. 

The meeting was themed: “Sustainable Tourism: Building Bridges for Co-operation and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, Promoting Community-based Tourism for Diversification and Competitiveness.” Explaining further, Orozco said difference in language and culture are assets because, “the region becomes very attractive when you have so many manifestations of culture and languages. That's why we are trying to promote this, in order for people to visit here to experience it. The different mix we have in the region, from one country to another, or from one sub-region to another.”

His comment comes ahead of a summit to be held in Havana, Cuba, in January 2015. Sustainable tourism, he said, means the government and private sectors from each country protecting its resources, including its cultural heritage as well as its flora and fauna. Orozco said the aim is to promote multi-destination travel in the region. And as the American President Barrack Obama take steps to reform immigration laws in the US, talks are ongoing in the LAC region to improve the immigration laws, said Carmen Gil Erazo, representative, Community of Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC). “Recently, we had a meeting with this issue in mind. What we seek to do is to find means to regulate this and to control it. It is a complexed issue and requires consensus from member states. There are other aspects (of immigration) that are still being negotiated.” 

While countries in the LAC region continue to struggle with drug trade, Gil Erazo confirmed there was an agreement yet to be ratified by all LAC member states. “There is an agreement that has been put on the table for the illicit trafficking of psychotropic substances. Some countries have signed on to this. We hope that others will also ratify it, so that this agreement will enter into force. The idea is that we all respect the internal processes of each of the countries and this is an issue which requires some patience.” Representatives from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, Central American Tourism Integration Secretariat, the Republic of Nicaragua, Suriname and Argentina were in attendance.

Placebos are amazing things. All schoolchildren should be taught about them. Then we might not have so many people believing in the local charlatans with their lime bud tea and the like for gastro and “impotency.” A placebo is simply anything that seems to be “real” medical treatment, but isn’t. It could be a pill, a shot, or some other type of “fake” treatment, like a sham operation or the laying-on of hands or inhalation of special scents etc. 

What all placebos have in common is that they do not contain an active substance meant to affect health. This differentiates them from substances like soursop tea, which contains chemicals that induce sleep. A placebo effect is the relief of symptoms just by believing you are receiving helpful care. About one in three people get better when they believe they are receiving care that is going to help them.  So placebos work. This isn’t news. It’s been known scientifically for more than 50 years and for centuries before that. One-third of people respond to treatments without any active ingredient in them. It’s so well known that ethical researchers automatically take this into account when assessing the efficacy of a new drug. 

A drug is only useful when it’s better than the placebo effect. You all would be amazed at how many new, expensive drugs are no better than placebos. Ah, but their advertising is a wonder! The other good thing about placebos is that they have no side effects, unless the side effects have been suggested. If people expect to have side effects such as headaches, nausea or drowsiness, there is a greater chance of those reactions happening. In one study, people were given a placebo and told it was a stimulant. After taking the pill, their pulse rate speeded up, their blood pressure increased, and their reaction speeds improved. When the same people were given the same pill and told it was to help them get to sleep, they experienced the opposite effects. 

Placebos are extremely useful for those common yet frustrating afflictions that have a psychological component: back pain, sleep disorders, irritable bowels, depression, headaches and so on.
This strong psychological component to placebos helps explain the tremendous success some charlatans, whether medical or non-medical, have. In one study involving asthma, people using a placebo inhaler did no better on breathing tests. 

But when researchers asked for people’s perception of how they felt, the placebo inhaler was reported as being as effective as medicine in providing relief. Scary stuff! There is a relationship between how strongly a person expects to have results and whether or not results occur. The stronger the feeling, the more likely it is that a person will experience positive effects.  This may well be due to the interaction between a person and the health care provider, but other belief systems are involved. Expensive placebo pills are more effective than cheap ones. (This may be true of doctors also). Taking two placebo pills (eg sugar pills) relieves more pain or is more sedating or heals stomach ulcers more quickly than taking just one.

This good-feeling phenomenon is not imaginary or fake but due to a physical change that occurs with all placebo effects: an increase in the body’s production of endorphins, one of the body’s natural pain relievers.  But it gets better: it’s not only about sugar pills. Sham acupuncture (or fake acupuncture), which doesn’t target traditional pressure points and doesn’t penetrate the skin, reduces migraines in 38 per cent of patients, making it as effective as real migraine drugs. Sham surgery (fake operations), in which you go into an operating theatre, go under anaesthesia, get cut and immediately stitched back up without anything else being done, helps 58 per cent of migraine patients who undergo the operation, potentially better than actual drugs for migraine.

The hypothesis that when we believe placebos will heal, they do, at least to some extent, is hard to reject. Perhaps for this reason, childhood is full of placebo effects. Parents do it all the time to their children, who, with their belief in magic, get better remarkably quickly. If a child falls, a bag of ice on the knee soothes even if the knee really isn’t injured. A Dora plaster over an injection ends tears immediately. Hugs and a kiss from Mummy can heal almost anything. The widespread use of antibiotics for conditions that don’t require them (flu, tonsillitis) is a form of placebo prescribing. Trinis real believe in this. The more the injection hurts, the better. Paracetamol for back pain appears to be a placebo as well. These may help patients feel better, but only because they believe they will do so. The active ingredient adds nothing. Most people don’t seem to mind, even if they suspect the doctor may be tricking them. Nevertheless, prescribing a treatment that may not have any direct physical effect is an ethical grey area, even if it harnesses the placebo effect.

The lesson of placebos is simple: the mind-body connection is strong. A lot of good can come from caring and feeling cared for. Many times we need additional help from surgery, medication and other therapies. But for a wide range of common problems, from earaches to sleep disorders to headaches, often we don’t. Words, touch, and hope can be therapeutic. Perhaps what we need to figure out is how we can put that power to good use. Is there an ideal combination of advice, empathy and touch that can release our body’s natural disease-fighting agents?

A farmer’s keen sense of smell yesterday led police to a body believed to be one of the female members of the missing family from Brasso Seco, Paria, for whom they have been searching the forest for the past two weeks. Police believe the body is that of either Irma Rampersad, 49, or one of her daughters, Felicia, 17, or Jenelle Gonzales, 19. The farmer was part of the 52-member team that had been searching unsuccessfully for several hours yesterday when, around 3.15 pm, he said he was getting a foul smell from some bushes nearby.

Members of the Homicide Bureau and the Crime Scene Unit then searched the area and found the half-naked, decomposing body hours later. It was found near a tree in a grey top and red underwear. The right foot was missing but police believe wild animals may have eaten it. The police brought the body, which was found several miles from where two other bodies were found on Saturday, out the forest around 6.40 pm.

In a release yesterday, the police confirmed Felix Martinez, 52, had also been positively identified as the man they found in the forest on Saturday. His identity was confirmed after an autopsy revealed he was strangled to death. Martinez, 52, was found with the body of a child, believed to be 14-month-old Shania Amoroso, in a forested area of the Paria Valley. They were found wrapped in a sleeping blanket four miles into the forest. The child’s skull was severely bashed in. 

However, the autopsy on the infant was inconclusive due to the advanced state of decomposition and a further forensic examination is required. Martinez was said to be a close friend of the family and it was he who reported the family missing a day after they disappeared. He told police he was asleep in their house the day they went missing and awoke to find a kitchen window broken and the women and child missing. A few days later he too went missing but was believed to have been hunting. 

Speaking with the media yesterday, Martinez's brother, John, said his brother was a kind man who used to help out all the villagers. Other villagers said Martinez never went to school and used to stay at the home of everyone in the village, including the missing family. Villagers said they were about to call off the search when they got the scent. Following the discovery, about a quarter-mile into the forest, off Mt Bleu Road, Paria, villagers who were part of the search team said the family was at least getting some closure. Residents described the killer/s as a monster/s who is/are robbing the family of closure by ensuring they don't find the bodies of all their relatives at once. But relatives, who spoke briefly with the T&T Guardian, said they were not surprised by the discoveries as they believed it was a way of torturing the family. They questioned the number of times they would have to receive a phone call telling them of the discovery of a decomposing relative. The perpetrator/s of the crime, they added, was/were robbing the entire family of comfort, closure and peace. 

Search continues
A search team, comprising members of the Police Service, Defence Force, Forestry Division and eight villagers, has been searching the Brasso Seco forest since the family was reported missing on October 28. They will return to the forest today. So far, five people, including three relatives of the missing family, have been arrested. Police also have issued and all points alert for the whereabouts of Azmon Alexander, who is deemed “a person of interest” in the case. Members of the public are asked to call the hotline number 708-9956 if they have information which can assist the police.

The Finance Ministry sees it as a matter of urgency to sort out the issue arising from the payment of a $28,000 monthly housing allowance to President Anthony Carmona. Government officials would not say who was to decide whether the allowance should not have been given or whether it should be stopped. An update on the matter may arise at tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting, it was hinted. The President has reportedly been receiving the allowance since last year while occupying state-owned quarters at Flagstaff Hill, St James.

Carmona and the Chief Personnel Officer, Stephanie Lewis, who approved the payment, have been spotlighted amid calls from the Opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) and the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) for Government to halt the payment and for Carmona to “give back the money.” Finance Minister Larry Howai, who has said the housing allowance had never been brought to his attention previously, added: “I am advised the payments are not made by the Finance Ministry, although provision for it would be included in the monthly releases issued by the ministry. “Now having had notice of it, I have asked for independent advice on the matter to guide our response.”

Howai said he had asked the Attorney General Anand Ramlogan for advice and the AG was getting an opinion from the Solicitor General. He added: “The ministry will abide by the advice when it is received. While no exact time-frame has been set the matter is a priority and is being attended to as a matter of urgency.” Ramlogan also said yesterday he could not give a time-frame.

Only seven fit in dining room
Public Administration Minister Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, who said the issue was being reviewed by her ministry and Finance, said her ministry was the landlord of the Flagstaff units which the President occupies and usually allocated units. She said the Housing Ministry, which is responsible for property management, handled maintenance and repairs. Seepersad-Bachan said the Flagstaff units were normally used to house foreigners working with the Government or other government staff or travelling officers.

The President’s Flagstaff housing is said to include a four-bedroom bungalow where he and his family live, a second single-family house with bedrooms for the aide-de-camp and other staff, and a townhouse for staff and security. Approximately 26 people can be accommodated in the four units. The dining room of the main house can accommodate about seven, it also is understood. Housing Minister Roodal Moonilal said renovation of the cottage at President’s House is expected to be complete next month but the Works Ministry would have to give a timeline on restoration of the main house. 

Moonilal: Flagstaff temporary
Yesterday, Housing Minister Roodal Moonilal said the Flagstaff location always was meant as temporary but he said the delay in delivering the cottage was due to the significant renovation and outfitting required and that took some time as did the public procurement processes to ensure proper procedure was used. Moonilal said Udecott had done only minor refurbishment and outfitting to the Flagstaff units, one of which was formerly occupied by former Police Commissioner Dwayne Gibbs and another by former PNM minister Emily Dick-Forde.

He said work on the Flagstaff units was done in good time but he did not have the cost at hand. He added: “It was to be a situation where the President could move in with his family and ensure the facilities were there but nothing elaborate was done. “The house isn’t designed for banquets or to host leaders of countries or cocktail receptions. It’s simply a dwelling house. It has a yard and no back garden but it is in an upscale residential area,” he added. Asked if the President would be able to live at the cottage while restoration work went on, he said he was sure Works would try to minimise any inconveniences. Since President’s House has been unavailable, the President has used the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) to host functions and for one event, Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s.

Public Service head: Grey area
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar already has in hand a report on the CPO’s involvement from the head of the Public Service, Reynold Cooper, who confirmed the CPO had given her side of the story. While not divulging the report’s contents, Cooper said the CPO was an independent entity and had leeway to interpret ministerial circulars in the context of whatever law or report was approved by Parliament and particularly “grey areas” that may arise. He said the CPO was secretary to the Salaries Review Commission, which formulated the salary/allowance recommendation, and she had the responsibility for interpreting how its terms and conditions were implemented. 

He said she had certain powers under the law and in his view also had the power to refer it to the Finance or Public Administration Ministers, who handled finance and policy matters. Giving another personal opinion, Cooper drew an analogy, saying for instance the SRC report prescribes 60 days’ vacation for the President but was silent on sick leave. In such a grey area, if a need for sick leave of more than 14 days arose, the CPO would be called on to say how to treat with that, he explained. He felt the housing-allowance issue was a grey area like that and was silent on certain things and she was called upon to interpret it. Cooper said to his knowledge there had so far been no cases of people being asked to pay back allowances in any similar cases.

CPO Silent
The T&T Guardian sent several questions to the CPO yesterday but communications officer at the CPO’s division Richard Hayde said: “The CPO has no comment on these matters at this time.” Other sources noted several points. Among those was that the CPO’s role was protected by legislation and included a separation from the politicians which would ensure an independent officer dealt with matters such as allowances and remuneration without interference.

It was also noted that it was envisioned the President’s stay at the Flagstaff Hill quarters would be temporary, about six months, and the work on the cottage or restoration of President’s House would have been completed by then. They also said if the US President were put up at the best hotel in the US, it still would not be the White House and would not be suitable for from where the President would function. Sources added that Carmona was not the only official who received the housing allowance. Lastly, they questioned why the issue had now come into focus, a year after the CPO approved it, and when the President had been in the spotlight recently.

Background info
Last year the secretary to the President asked the CPO to provide “an interpretation” on the payment of the allowance, which was stipulated in a 2009 Finance Ministry circular under the past PNM administration. The circular was based on the Salaries Review Commission’s (SRC) recommendation for the allowance to be paid when the official residence, President’s House, is not available for use by the President and suitable alternative accommodation is not provided. In July 2013 the CPO approved the tax-free $28,000 monthly housing allowance. The President was at the time and still is living in state housing at Flagstaff Hill, since the guest “cottage” at President’s House, earmarked for his use, is still being refurbished.

Hunger striker Dr Wayne Kublalsingh was too weak to talk yesterday and asked his wife Dr Sylvia Moodie-Kublalsingh to answer his cellphone. “He is speaking with difficulty. He does not have much energy to talk. He’s sinking more and more. He’s just bones now,” Moodie-Kublalsingh told the T&T Guardian. It has been 57 days now since Kublalsingh embarked on a second hunger strike, allegedly without food and water.

Told some people found this amazing, Moodie-Kublalsingh replied: “I too. I don’t know what to say.” She said Kublalsingh spent most of his time in bed at their home in D’Abadie. “He gets up and tries to sit a little,” she added. Even as Kublalsingh’s health waned, members of the lobby group, Project 40, yesterday met with President Anthony Carmona to ask for mediation over the issue of the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the extension of the Solomon Hochoy to Point Fortin, the reason for Kublalsingh’s hunger strike.

Kublalsingh and the Highway Re-route Movement (HRM) he leads want that segment of the highway stopped. They are claiming it will have disastrous ecological and social consequences.
Other civil society groups, trade unions, religious bodies and an environmental organisation have since supported his cause. Asked if her husband hoped Project 40’s meeting with Carmona, Moodie-Kublalsingh said she did not know. “I haven’t chatted with him about it,” she said, adding she did not talk to him more than necessary to conserve his energy. Moodie-Kublalsingh was certain, however, that “he definitely wants mediation... from the beginning, he wanted it to end.”

Asked how she was coping with his deteriorating health, she said it was exceedingly hard. They have been married for 28 years and have a 22-year-old son, Ori, a student at the Hugh Wooding Law School. “I have to try to detach myself and not be emotional. I do not look at him too much,” she added. A staunch Roman Catholic, she said prayers, private tutoring jobs and the support of people who visited her have been helping. She said last Saturday a group of 30 young people from her church sang and prayed with lit candles in front of their house. “Priests and ministers came and prayed,” she added.

Asked how their son coped, she said he was focused on his law studies. Moodie-Kublalsingh said she supported her husband’s cause but did not support hunger strikes, not even Gandhi’s, and had made that clear to him. “It’s not logical to do what he’s doing. Our bodies are God-given. They have been given to us to respect not to be used as a political protest tool. I don’t think that’s right,” she added.

After a two-hour meeting with President Anthony Carmona, members of the Project 40 lobby group say they are waiting for him to meet with his advisers before responding to them. Three members of the group—Gerry Williams, Khalil Hassanali and Alyssa Rostant—met with Carmona at President’s House from 12.30 pm to 2.30 pm yesterday. They refused to speculate on whether Carmona could or could not step in and end the impasse between hunger striker Dr Wayne Kublalsingh and the Government over the Debe to Mon Desir portion of the extension of the Solomon Hochoy Highway to Point Fortin. 

However, they said, they were heartened by the fact that the President gave them an audience. The group is calling for mediation to resolve the situation. Project 40 began a “relay fast” in support of Kublalsingh with its 40 members taking turns fasting for a day. In a subsequent media release yesterday, Project 40 urged Carmona to respond by Friday. The release also said the group believed Carmona was “receptive” to its call, “in particular its petition that he stands by the principle of ethical leadership for T&T which he has often advocated in the public sphere.”

The group told the media it planned to deliver the same petition to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. “While disappointed that the meeting did not yield the definitive result they had hoped for, Project 40 anticipates that (the President) understands the urgency of the situation,” the release noted. Project 40 said “with a growing mass of citizens becoming increasingly frustrated and the life of Dr Kublalsingh hanging in the balance,” it was waiting “in good faith for a forthcoming response from the President.”

Three hours after workmen began demolishing the historic Greyfriars Church of Scotland, Frederick Street, Port-of-Spain, staff from the Port-of-Spain City Corporation yesterday ordered them to stop. The demolition crew were told to stop work and vacate the premises because they were operating illegally. The stop-work order was delivered by the chief building inspector at the City Engineer's Office, Deoraj Ramtahal, just after noon.

Accompanied by municipal police, along with members of the group, Citizens for Conservation ,and Ministry of National Diversity and Social Integration staff, Ramtahal read the notice to the ten workers before presenting it to them through the bars of the locked gate. Told by a policeman they needed to vacate the premises, the workers said they had been locked in for "safety reasons." As the policeman enquired who had the keys, in the event that there was an emergency, the worker, who said he was in charge, said they would need to contact the contractor, former Congress of the People parliamentary candidate Rocky Garcia.

Arriving shortly after, Garcia said he had been hired to carry out a health and safety assessment on the buildings, which were not structurally sound. He said his findings revealed the buildings were termite-ridden, contained asbestos in the ceiling and that the concrete used in the two previous restorations was flaking off. By the time the notice was delivered, the workers had already removed the roof and ceiling of the manse (church hall) and had begun taking off the galvanize sheeting from the church roof. Garcia said while he intended to abide by the order, he would report to the owner and relevant action would be taken.

Inspector: No approval to demolish
Speaking with reporters minutes after he delivered the notice, Ramtahal said no application had been made to the corporation for permission to carry out demolition work on the site. After noticing the workmen around 9 am yesterday, Ramtahal said he visited and asked to see the documents approving the demolition but was told the owner had them. Ramtahal said attempts to contact Alfred Galy, named as the purchaser on documents submitted to the corporation, were unsuccessful so the notice was prepared and served on the workmen. Pointing to the locked gate, Ramtahal said: "It is strange that the gate was locked because up to 45 minutes ago the gate was open. I walked into the site and spoke with the worker purported to be in charge.

Now that we have shown up with the notice, the gate is locked. "However, that does not deter us from serving the notice and issues concerning the workers’ health and safety have now arisen and we will have to address that. “The corporation will monitor it and do our due diligence and see what activities are taking place here. I have spoken with my superiors and we may have to look at other measures to ensure compliance."

‘Preserve this landmark’
Members of the NGO Citizens for Conservation, who included president Rudylynn Roberts, executive secretary Michele Celestine and executive member Margaret Mc Dowall-Thompson, yesterday went to Greyfriars to try to prevent further demolition. Expressing their gratitude to the corporation for the swift action to halt it, Roberts said they were concerned the structure would now be further ruined by the elements. "We must now find a way to get tarpaulins onto the building to temporarily protect it until the whole thing is sorted out," she said, as she pointed to the dark clouds above.
Blinking away tears, Roberts said her group had submitted a dossier to Minister of National Diversity and Social Integration Rodger Samuel three weeks ago, proposing the church be listed as a historical site.

She said it would have formed part of the legendary Woodford Square Historic District, which proposed to transform the old national library into a museum, housing memorabilia on past prime ministers and presidents. "We just have to see what happens from here," she concluded. Mc Dowall-Thompson accused the owner of disrespecting the national culture, the efforts of the conservationists and the law. Celestine said they had proposed to transform the Greyfriars property into a usable space as they had plans to turn the manse into a dinner/dining area and the church as a theatre space for the spoken word.

As the situation unfolded yesterday, passerby Lynette Sookoo, who works at the Ministry of Education, said her parent — Esther Martha and Morton Sookoo — were married at the church in 1957. "I felt very hurt this morning when I walked past and saw the demolition work taking place. It is a landmark in this country and to think of how it is so cheaply going to be broken down, it is painful. If my mother were alive, she would have been very hurt and must be turning in her grave right now," she added. According to records, the church site at Frederick Street was bought for £300 and the foundation stone laid in April, 1837. It was completed at a cost of £4,858.

It was opened for public worship in January 1838 and was named Greyfriars after the mother church in Glasgow, Scotland. Three years later, a manse was built next to the church for its minister, the Rev Alexander Kennedy, who was succeeded by the Rev George Brodie who died in 1875. In the church are memorial tablets commemorating their work, as well as members of the congregatio­n who fell during the two World Wars. The graves of three children lie in the churchyard.

What the law says
Section 164 (1),(2) and (3) of the Municipal Corporations Act says: "No person may pull down or remove from its site any building within any municipality unless, not more than 14 days and not less than two days before such removal, he gives notice in writing to the CEO of his intention to pull down or remove such building. “Any person who pulls down or removes any building from its site, and any owner of any such building who causes or permits any building to be removed from its site without having first given the notice prescribed by this section is liable to a fine of $4,000."

Derelict Public Transportation Services Corporation (PTSC) buses will soon be given a new lease on life, as they will be used to create artificial reefs around the coast of T&T. Yesterday Transport Minister Stephen Cadiz said he was working with the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) to use the 45 decommissioned buses. “I hope that we will be able to make further use of these old chassis by making artificial reefs where fish will breed in them and increase the fish count,” Cadiz said as he spoke with reporters during a tour of the PTSC garage at Lady Hailes Avenue, San Fernando, yesterday. 

The minister said similar reefs were successfully created 20 years ago. He said the derelict buses from South Quay and San Fernando would be removed to PTSC’s facility in Carlsen Field where they would be further decommissioned. “Before we make an artificial reef with them, we have to get EMA to sign them off and make sure that all liquids, anything that would damage the environment, has to be removed, and we will then begin making artificial reefs,” Cadiz said. Artificial reefs are a popular use for derelict vehicles and ships around the world and are strategically placed in coastal areas to be colonised by soft corals and plants and encourage spawning of fish.
 
Cadiz said his ministry was in talks with the Ministry of Land and Marine Resources, Fisheries Division and the EMA to decide where the buses would be put. He said there would be little to no cost to PTSC for the project since the private sector and the Game Fishing Association had come forward to help with the creation of the reefs. “They say they will lend us a hand by proving cranage, etc, to the exercise. It will be a combined effort from PTSC, the ministries, the people who will benefit, fishermen and the Game Fishing Association. It is an all-out effort from everybody.”

CNG buses to roll soon
Cadiz announced that this weekend PTSC’s in-house CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) fuelling station at South Quay, Port-of-Spain would be formally commissioned. This would pave the way for the integration of its new fleet of CNG-powered buses, he added. On Sunday the 35 new Sunlong buses, made in China, arrived at the Port-of-Spain port. He said the buses, which cost $38 million, were being commissioned and licensed. “I am hoping by the first week in December we would have the brand new buses out on the road which will again greatly improve the run-out (number of buses on routes at a given time),” Cadiz said. 

He said converting the PTSC’s fleet to CNG would not only reduce the corporation’s operating costs but was better for the environment. Cadiz said he decided to tour the San Fernando facility to see firsthand some of the issues staff were experiencing. Transport and Industrial Workers Union (TIWU) shop steward Kervyn Edwards said workers had health and safety concerns, as well as issues with lack of equipment. Cadiz assured that his ministry was working with the PTSC management and board to address all concerns so the bus company would be more efficient and effective.
 

A Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting in Parliament yesterday found the internal auditing function of government ministries was failing and that the Ministry of Finance’s internal auditing function was inadequate. Examining the Auditor General’s report on the Public Accounts of T&T for the financial year 2013, the committee raised such issues as inadequate reconciliation procedures in the Customs and Excise Division, leading to questions of differences of approximately $100 million in recorded revenue. The PAC met at the Parliament building on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday.

Members of the committee also questioned the Auditor General’s discovery of payments being made without corresponding invoices being available. The Auditor General noted two instances in which payments were made accumulating to over $900,000 but no invoices could be found. Communications Minister Vasant Bharath, who is a member of the committee, queried “significant losses” incurred by ministries as well as the discrepancy at Customs and Excise. Comptroller of Customs and Excise Ammar Samaroo said the failure to reconcile figures was related to a timing issue, as a manual system of recording cash vouchers took longer than the electronic financial recording system, Asycuda. But the chairman of the committee, Colm Imbert, MP, asked whether or not this could be sufficiently proven.

Another committee member, Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, came to the Finance Ministry’s defence several times, sometimes answering questions put to permanent secretary Vishnu Dhanpaul. Imbert, while directing questions to Comptroller of Accounts Catherine Laban, asked whether a written report had been submitted by each ministry regarding compliance with procedures.
Laban said no, but added if they noticed a compliance issue, the agency or ministry would be written to and each ministry was surveyed yearly. “And what happens if you do not notice?” asked Imbert. “I am just a bit surprised. The Auditor General’s department has a very limited number of staff dealing with value for money audits. We need to fix that.”

Imbert gave the example of the recently shutdown LifeSport programme which was run through the Ministry of Sport. “If a permanent secretary in the Ministry of Sport is not following guidelines, what does the Ministry of Finance do? What do you do? How do you determine—if you didn’t do an audit of LifeSport, what procedure would you have used to ensure the PS of Sport was complying with regulations? “You have six auditors and six people will look and see if ministries are in compliance. How can six people look at all these ministries and departments? How is that humanly possible? he asked.

Bharath contributed that ministries had their own internal audit functions but added that they were failing. Imbert also said there were severe weaknesses in the internal audit functions at ministries. 
“The internal audit is weak and I would assume it is the Ministry of Finance internal audit,” he added. He said he was taken aback by the inadequacy of the audit function there.

Officials from the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) are expected to arrive in T&T on November 21 to carry out an inspection of the Ebola isolation unit at Caura Hospital. So said Minister of Health Dr Fuad Khan following a tour of the $250,000 facility yesterday. The unit has a sterilisation room at the entrance where medical workers will get dressed in  hazmat outfits. There is a plastic covered entrance leading to the white isolated rooms, each about the size of a small bedroom, equipped with a bed, washroom and a small table.

There is also a separate room that leads to the back of the building where health workers are sanitised before undressing. The minister also revealed that hazmat suits, which cost US$20,000 each, were waiting to be cleared. “These are difficult suits to wear. It takes 45 minutes to put on and 45 minutes to take off after sterilisation. There is already a lot of training done and that training will continue with these suits which are reusable,” he added.

There are four beds at the unit, which each room having its own air-conditioning unit, washroom and bathroom facility. "There are four persons assigned to this unit and all are senior people,” the minister said. He said everyone would be trained to deal with Ebola patients but for now only those who had to deal with Ebola patients would be trained. “All senior levels will be involved because we can't afford any mishaps," he added.

Khan noted that a two-bed isolation station would be added soon and would be used for higher level cases should there be any. He, however, said he believed the virus would not reach T&T shores.
If there were no cases of Ebola or suspected Ebola, Khan assured  the unit would not be a white elephant but would be used. He said two consultants from Nigeria and Ghana would come to T&T and give the necessary training rather than send a team to west Africa. On Saturday, Public Service Association president Watson Duke led a protest outside the facility, saying the health sector was not ready to deal with the Ebola virus since workers lacked the necessary training and equipment.

Plumes of thick, black smoke covered La Romaine, San Fernando, yesterday evening as fire officers battled a multi-million dollar blaze that gutted a business complex. The buildings, located at Allahar Street, housed Diamond Systems Ltd, a computer company; Progmastics, an IT company; Sports Outlet, a clothing company and Trinidad Gaskets, a manufacturing company. The entire compound was owned by Southern Industrial. 

The fire reportedly began around 4 pm and members of staff were evacuated before the Fire Services arrived. When the T&T Guardian visited the scene around 5 pm, thick smoke could be seen billowing from the ruins as firefighters of the Mon Repos Fire Station attempted to extinguish the blaze. Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Ansar Ali told the media the officers were able to contain the blaze to the building in the middle which housed Sports Outlet and prevented it from destroying the main administration building and the warehouse at the back, which stored chemicals of an unknown nature.

Ali said five units, 30 officers and five water tankers responded. One woman, who said she was part owner of Diamond Systems, said none of her employees were hurt. She could not give an estimate for the damages as there were other companies who also lost their stock. Councillor for the area, Roland Hall, visited the scene and praised the Fire Services for their speedy response.

Repair works are underway to fix a collapsed segment of the new Solomon Hochoy Highway extension to Point Fortin.

On Wednesday afternoon, the land under a portion of the recently opened roadway between Golconda and Debe was visibly eroded.

One street light near the segment was tilted back, away from the highway.

The road surface had been covered with lengths of white plastic sheeting, and concrete barriers were being placed along the shoulder.

The roadway remains open.

A social media firestorm erupted yesterday after a landslip mere metres away from the recently-opened Golconda Interchange caused a portion of the shoulder of the highway to collapse.
Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms were abuzz with rumours that a portion of the interchange, which was formally opened last month by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, had collapsed. 

However, National Infrastructure Development Company (Nidco) chairman, Dr Carson Charles, yesterday dismissed social media rumours of the collapse, telling the T&T Guardian the issue being blown out of proportion. “It was just a crack by a small landslip on the eastern side of the highway,” Charles said. “It was caused by heavy rains undermining earthen drains at the bottom of the embankment.”

Facebook users commenting on the T&T Guardian’s post about the collapse seized the opportunity to show support for Highway Re-route Movement leader Dr Wayne Kublalsingh. Kublalsingh has been on a hunger strike for the past 58 days, calling for mediation on the Debe to Mon Desir leg of the extension of the Sir Solomon Highway to Point Fortin. The shoulder collapsed sometime during the morning period, the T&T Guardian was told. HRM members alerted the media to the situation.

The T&T Guardian visited the scene shortly after noon and saw five employees of Brazilian firm, Construtora OAS Ltd, at the site. They refused to speak to the T&T Guardian and walked away. 
Workers also stopped an excavator which was on site and operating. The collapsed portion of the shoulder was hidden under white tarpaulin which was held down by cement. The area was blocked off with concrete barriers and large traffic cones.

In a release yesterday, Nidco confirmed there was a “minor landslip” along the Golconda to Debe segment. The landslip, it added, occurred approximately 400 metres south of the Papourie Road underpass, on the south-bound carriageway of the extension and occurred because of water seeping into the bottom of the embankment due to incomplete drains in the area. 

Yesterday, Charles said that may have happened due to the current drainage system. “Anywhere you have earthen drains this can happen but this is not affecting the highway in any way,” he said. 
Charles said OAS was supposed to pave the drains but that was not done yet. “The contractor was supposed to pave the drains, after that (paving) is done there will be no more problems. This has nothing to do with the structure of the highway. It is a drainage problem,” he added.

He said the contractor was working feverishly to rectify the problem. “The contractor went in to make sure the landslip is stopped,” he said. He said no retaining wall would be put up because once the drain was paved the issue would be resolved. 

HRM: Poor studies done
Highway Re-route Movement (HRM) member Vishal Boodhai, who spoke to the media yesterday at the site of the collapsed shoulder, knocked the Government for failing to carry out proper scientific studies before beginning construction. Boodhai said about 100 feet of the shoulder had collapsed. He said: “The HRM is very disturbed about what transpired here today, where almost 100 feet of the shoulder of the Debe-Goloconda highway caved in. “They basically did some work to mask the damages that happened this morning and they put some plastic and cemented it into place to hide what happened.”

Boodhai said yesterday’s incident was a perfect example of the need for scientific studies before beginning construction on such a large project. He added: “We were always lobbying for scientific studies to be undertaken before any construction was started. “Today we see a perfect example of what happens when you don't do the proper studies before embarking on a project of this size. “We see the most expensive highway on planet earth. It’s not even finished and we are already seeing signs of it falling apart.” 

Nigerian detainee, Tine Okodeo Kings, 40, who was just released from the detention centre,  is now married to a Trinidadian. Speaking to the media at the Emancipation Centre, Bergerac Road, Maraval, Kings said he came in, undocumented, through a small port in Cedros from Venezuela.

He said he did not know why he came to Trinidad. “I got a ticket to go to Brazil for a job and there I realised that the job I was promised was not actually the way it was explained to me and then I was stranded... so someone comes to me and says there is this land flowing with milk and honey, T&T, there are jobs, you could make some good dollars. That is how I came here,” he said.
Kings said he made a connection with a Trinidadian who owned a boat and paid the man US$250 for a ride “in a fig boat on the high seas” to Cedros. He said it was a small boat that travelled through shark-infested waters.

Back home in Nigeria, Kings was a teacher and was initially supposed to run a restaurant in Brazil. Describing conditions in the detention centre, he said: “The beds are like baby beds, the kind I buy for my six-year-old son and it is a double-decker, so when the man on top is shifting, it shifts. The windows are louvres so at night you get a lot of mosquito bites. Otherwise the place is not hygienic. It is a prison.”

Kings said he was at home last year with his wife of seven years when immigration officers picked him up. He said conditions at the centre were worse for the women and claimed a female detainee had committed suicide. His wife posted a bond for his release and even after it was posted, he was remanded for months. Kings was at the centre for over a year before finally being released into his wife's custody, according to a document signed by the Minister of National Security.

Attorney Farid Scoon, who represents several African nationals detained at the National Detention Centre, Arima, claimed yesterday Guyanese and Syrian mirgrants were being given preferential treatment by the immigration authorities. To support his view, he produced a 2004 internal circular, issued by the Chief Immigration Officer, which, he said, ordered that the cases of African nationals seeking extensions to stay in the country have to be escalated to Immigration senior officers.

Scoon said the processes for other nationalities were different. "Before an immigration officer can grant an extension, even if you have a work permit, he has to go to the assistant chief," Scoon said.
That circular used to included migrants from the Middle East and Far East but in recent times the convention between Trinidad and India has changed, he said, and he did not know why there was that disparity in treatment between the races. "I cannot say but there is a discriminatory policy enshrined in the immigration policy where they treat African nationals differently from how they treat other nationals," he said. He also said he had evidence of the disparity in treatment of African migrants as opposed to Syrian migrants.

Scoon confirmed that according to local laws, once someone is married to a T&T national, they automatically qualify for naturalisation. He said he was aware of cases where conglomerates in Trinidad hired consultants to source and retain Guyanese workers to work in restaurants. "On the one hand you are saying undocumented immigrants are taking away from our jobs, and on the other hand you are allowing certain persons in the society to bring in migrants by the hundreds to have jobs in T&T," he added. He said they receive work permits because of the influence of restaurant owners. Scoon also raised questions on whether there was a pact between the Syrian community and the government to allow nationals into the country because of the crisis in Syria. “Why is not the same courtesy being extended to Africans?" Scoon asked. The T&T Guardian tried to contact Griffith but was unsuccessful.

Kambon: Smear campaign against Africans
Emancipation Committee chairman Khafra Kambon is accusing Minister of National Security, Gary Griffith, of using "smear campaigns" to discredit the horrors endured by the African men held at the National Detention Centre. "We are seeing two trends in the conversation coming, especially from the Minister of National Security, who keeps linking undocumented migrants with crime and fake marriages. “We think we can discuss a major issue of concern without smears against persons who are victims," Kambon said yesterday. 

He was speaking at a media conference at the committee's office, Bergerac Road, Maraval. He said the treatment meted out to the detainees who entered the country illegally was a violation of human rights. "Human rights conventions actually recommend that not be treated as a criminal act, even though it is against the law of the country," he said. There was a sentiment the Emancipation Committee was recommending that all African detainees should be released, but that was not so, he said, and there had been correspondence between the committee and the Ministry of National Security in which it recommended sending migrants back home rather than keeping them locked up indefinitely. "We feel there should be equality of treatment for everyone. We can say,  without any fear of contradiction, because the evidence is there and we dare anyone to say otherwise. “The reality is that there is particular discrimination in the treatment of the migrants that come here from the continent," he said.

Kambon countered Griffith's statement that migrants cases would be studied to regularise their individual cases, saying there were 23 African detainees at the centre but that had since increased to 27 and he had evidence that the State was planning to send them back to Africa. "The State is seeking to charter a plane to take these migrants home. It is discriminatory to have an open door to other people, where they can come in and have their cases heard, and at the same time shut the door on those who  are already in detention," he added.

Griffith dismisses allegations
National Security Minister Gary Griffith yesterday dismissed all allegations made by Emancipation Committee chairman Khafra Kambon and lawyer Farid Scoon. In a telephone interview yesterday, Griffith said Kambon and Scoon were misleading the public as he had the statistics to show that of the 640 people repatriated “a handful” were Africans. “The majority is from the region,” he said.
He said the two men also were misleading the public by saying African men were being profiled or treated worse among the detainees.

Griffith did admit that there had been allegations of mistreatment at the centre and said both his junior Security Minister Embau Moheni and the Chief Immigration Officer were investigating and compiling a report for him. “We will put things in place to ensure there is no recurrence of that but again, this is not treatment specific to the African detainees. These were reports across the board,” he said.  
 

Two days after a San Fernando man went missing after diving off a boat in the Gulf of Paria his body was picked up by the Coast Guard a mile off the La Brea jetty. Deodath Goolcharan, of Retrench Village, San Fernando, was last seen alive when he dived off a friend’s wooden boat on Monday. It was the same friend, Om Roopchan, who, along with other neighbours, found his body after setting off on their own search early yesterday morning.

Speaking to the T&T Guardian by phone yesterday, Goolcharan’s sister, Rita, said the family felt a sense of relief her brother’s body was found and they no longer had to wonder what happened to him. She said the family got a call from Roopchan around 10.30 am to say her brother’s body had been spotted in Oropouche. She added: “Apparently the undercurrent carried his body down to La Brea. The same guy he went out with that day (Monday), helped to find him.” She said after Roopchan contacted them, the family called the Coast Guard and police.  “The Coast Guard went down there and took the body out the water around 1.30 pm,” said Rita. 

However, she said their worry has shifted to the health of her 78-year-old mother who had not been told at first that her only son was missing because the family feared for her health. “She ended up finding out he was missing and she was not eating or anything,” said Rita. “My sister carry her to the doctor this morning and he said her pressure and sugar so low she could go into a coma.”

She is urging seagoers to be more cautious when venturing out, especially during bad weather. “Whoever going out to sea, be extremely careful. Get yourself  lifejackets and look at the weather before doing those activities,” the grieving sister said. “The sea was still rough after the bad weather on Sunday. They could have taken more precaution but I wasn’t there so I can’t judge anybody,” she said. She said tentative funeral arrangements are being made for tomorrow. 

Reports that the Greyfriars Church of Scotland on Frederick Street, Port-of-Spain, was being demolished on Tuesday are false, says the owner, Alfred Galy. In an interview yesterday at his Frederick Street office, Galy said everybody had “jumped the gun” and said the building was being demolished but he was still waiting for an engineer’s report to determine the future of the property.
Galy did not rule out demolition but said if the engineer’s report indicated the structure was good and could be fixed, he was willing to fix it.

A crew of workmen who appeared to be doing demolition work was told to stop and vacate the premises on Tuesday because they were operating illegally. The stop-work order was delivered  just after noon by the chief building inspector at the City Engineer's Office, Deoraj Ramtahal. 
Galy said all work had stopped but added he would notify the corporation so that work could continue. 
Asked what kind of work was being done which required the roof of the adjacent church hall to be removed, Galy said the building was being assessed and that was part of the process. 
“The roof was toxic. Imagine a toxic, asbestos-filled roof in the city,” he added.

He said he would have an engineer look at the building and a report would be completed about a week later.
 “If the engineer’s report says the problems with the building can be remedied then we will remedy it, but if not, I am looking at all of the options,” he said. 
There were no workers at the site yesterday and the yard was full of pieces of wood pried from the roof, so the interior of the church hall was exposed to the elements. 
The church, which is 176 years old, was renovated in the past but the Church of Scotland was unable to maintain it and it has been closed for several years. It was deconsecrated before being sold to Galy this year.

After reports of the sale there were calls for the building to be preserved, coming from groups, such as Citizens for Conservation and historian and T&T Guardian columnist Angelo Bissessarsingh.
But Galy said change was inevitable and pointed out that despite all the reports in the media over the future of the property, no one had approached him for a meeting about which direction planning for it should take. 
“They talk to the newspapers but nobody has approached me and I am willing to listen to sensible suggestions,” he added.

No National Trust in place
There are plans for Greyfriars to be listed as a historical site by the National Trust. 
But the National Trust does not, at the moment, have a functioning board. Though one was appointed by Cabinet last week it is not expected to be installed until next week. 
In an interview yesterday, Minister of National Diversity and Social Integration Rodger Samuel said Greyfriars was going through the process of being listed and protected as such, along with other similar buildings. 
“We continue to work on getting it listed but it is a long process and it has to go through the Ministry of Legal Affairs,” said Samuel.

Asked if any special attention was being given to the building, he said the process had already started and ensuring the building was added to a list of historic buildings under the National Trust was a priority. 
Pressed further, Samuel said he would be meeting with staff at his ministry to discuss future interventions. 
He added: “We were there yesterday when the city corporation issued a stop notice to the owner. We are aware that there were plans to make Woodford Square a heritage block and we are working tremendously hard to find a solution.”

The proposed heritage block will include the Red House, which has been awaiting renovations for approximately a decade, the deteriorating former library and the Trinity Cathedral. 
In its 23 years of existence, the National Trust has given 15 buildings protected status, with a list of over 430 buildings waiting to be added.

The State must pay $195,000 to two men who were beaten by police, denied food and water and released from custody after three days without being charged. John Herera, 53, a construction worker from New Grant, and his friend, Terrance Huggins, 35, a technician from Preysal Village, Couva, were successful in the lawsuit filed by their attorney Imran Khan for assault and battery and false imprisonment. Last Friday in the Port-of-Spain Supreme Court Master Sobion-Awai awarded Herera $100,000 in damages and Huggins $95,000. The evidence was that around 3.30 pm on Saturday, August 9, 2008, Herera met Huggins in Princes Town and asked him to go with him to the San Fernando General Hospital to visit his wife. 

However, they stopped at the Carlos Bar, Princes Town, where they met another friend, Marlon Nanan, and stayed there for a while. As they left the bar, the men said a fight broke out between Nanan and another man. Herera and Huggins said they tried to break up the fight but a crowd gathered and began pelting bottles. As they ran, the men got separated but met up at the San Fernando Hospital.  One of the men involved in the fight was at the hospital and was threatening them so they left.

While they were walking towards Gordon Street, the men said, a police van pulled up, two officers got out and one began kicking and cuffing them. Huggins said he was ordered to lie on the ground and the other officer mashed him with his foot, hit him in the waist with his gun, slapped and kicked him in the ribs. Herera said an officer also stamped him on his right elbow, neck, both legs and right foot. At the San Fernando Police Station, the men said they were beaten again and placed in a dirty cell where they were left overnight without food or water. The next day they were taken to the Princes Town Police Station where they were again put in a cell. 

The men said their requests for a phone call to a relative or lawyer were denied and it was not until Monday they were given something to eat. However, Huggins said he could not eat the sausage sandwich he was given because there was a fly in it. On the Tuesday, they were allowed to leave the station after they had signed a statement, it was stated.